2 Vietnam Children Reunited With Their Mother in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two children released to a U.S. congressional delegation by the government of Vietnam were reunited today with their mother, who had to leave them behind when she fled that country in 1980.

The mother, Xuan Thi Nguyen, fell to her knees in the aisle of an Air Force jet, crying and throwing her arms around Tran Thanh Quynh, 9, and Nguyen Vu Chinh, 10, after they arrived at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

The Vietnamese had turned the children over to Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) at the end of the U.S. delegation's official meetings with the Vietnamese.

Nguyen, 35, now lives in Fairbanks and is married to an American. Another daughter, age 10, remains in Vietnam.